Ghost towns!

Posted 25 April 2017 &nbsp&nbsp|&nbsp&nbsp 2330 views &nbsp&nbsp|&nbsp&nbsp General Interest &nbsp&nbsp|&nbsp&nbsp Comments (0)Abandoned towns, empty cities, uninhabited villages… You can find ghost towns all over the world. Here are a few famous ones.
[Please note, the complete article comes complete with a glossary box, an audio file, and exercises.]

Bodie (California, United States)

Gold was first discovered in Bodie in 1859. Within 15 years it had become a boomtown; and at one point

had a population of about 10,000. But when all the gold went, so did the people. It officially became Bodie

State Historic Park in 1962, and is preserved as a kind of museum.

Pripyat (Ukraine)

Pripyat became a ghost town after a nuclear reactor explosion at the nearby Chernobyl power plant on 26th April 1986. Within 36 hours, the town was completely abandoned. The town had originally been developed in the 1970s for Chernobyl employees and their families. There were schools, sports stadiums and a newly built amusement park, which had opened the same day as the explosion. The risk of radiation is still high; and according to experts, it will take around 20,000 years before Pripyat is safe for humans.

Hashima Island (Japan)

Hashima is an abandoned island off the coast of Japan. A community was established in 1887 when coal was discovered. Apartment buildings, hospitals, prisons, libraries and schools were built. At one point, the population reached around 5,000, and it became the most densely populated place on earth. However, in 1974, the coal ran out and the people left. In 2009, a small portion of Hashima was reopened for tourism. In 2012, it featured in the James Bond movie Skyfall, and in 2015 it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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